If you want to remain anonymous on the Web, then Tor is a very good solution. Our identity is governed by the IP we use, which your ISP knows, and which can be shared with the authorities if requested.

To get around that identification and tracking problem, Tor offers a solution by routing your requests through multiple servers. All your ISP, or anyone else looking will see is a repeated request to a non-descript Tor server rather than the actual destination you are heading to.

Until now using Tor meant setting it up manually on your PC, or using a handy browser plug-in. But that still requires setting up, and for every PC you use on your home or business network. Now Tor is set to be added to a router, meaning automatic anonymity for any web-connected device connecting through that router.

The router project has been started to remove the need to even think about anonymity from the equation: it just happens.

Jacob Appelbaum, Tor project developer, explains:

We want to make anonymity something that can happen everywhere, all the time. When you are connected to a router with Tor inside, all your traffic goes through Tor without you changing your system at all. It makes it simple to use.

The final routers will rely on open source code loaded on to low-cost routers. The code comes from the OpenWrt project, while the final hardware hasn’t been decided on yet, although tests are being carried out with Buffalo AirStation routers.

Just like the current versions of Tor, you will be able to configure the router so all traffic is encrypted, or just specific types. The same is true of different devices on a network which can be configured to use a Tor or non-Tor wireless connection through the same router.

Finally, the end result may not even require a new router to be bought. Instead the OpenWrt code will be downloadable for your existing router if you don’t mind modifying it.

Anonymity online is becoming a more serious matter. Depending on where you live in the world there may already be unworkable laws in place that could see your Internet connection cut off. Such laws rely on an ISP monitoring traffic, and/or companies identifying your IP as downloading illegal material. With Tor such tracking cannot happen.

Making Tor as easy to use as possible means more people will choose to use it. That should also mean more servers through which to route traffic and therefore a faster, more robust Tor network.

It’s also incredibly difficult for anyone to block the use of Tor as it does nothing more than direct your traffic to an alternate destination. That destination can also change regularly meaning ISPs, or any organization monitoring specific service, don’t have a fixed target to hone in on and block.

If you want to learn more about Tor, then there’s no better guide than the overview on the Tor website.